THE BLACK TIGERS AND THE CULT OFPRABHAKARAN

Since the beginning of his war against the Sri Lankan state and (onoccasion) rival Tamils, Prabhakaran has displayed an absolute ruthlessness in hischoice of tactics and targets. The apotheosis of his dark but calculated stratagemsare the Black Tigers, suicide bombers deployed into the South of the country tolinger for months or years before detonating their charges. The tactical reasoningbehind suicide bombing, and its potential efficacy, has been considered by a varietyof thinkers]. But less often considered are the methods by which a suicide bombingcampaign is created and sustained for years on end, even in the face of clear failureto achieve real strategic advantage. Leaving the military and political success of theBlack Tigers to be debated by others, this correspondence is the beginning of anexploration of the means by which the LTIE and more particularly Prabhakaranhimself "constructs" these living bombs.

By necessity, many of the sources I rely upon as guides in this explorationwill be journalists, not academics. Academics have contributed significant insightinto many of the issues I touch upon, but I have found little anthropologic orsociologic research on the figures at the centre of my focus: the Black Tigersthemselves. Un surprisingly, Prabhakaran has seen little advantage in exposing hiselite force to the penetrating questions of social scientists. In contrast, manyjournalists have interviewed Black Tigers, either because Prabhakaran saw anadvantage to allowing such interviews prior to the bombers' deployment in theSouth, or because after that deployment the bomber grew disillusioned and chose tospeak to a reporter. While we may hope that journalists will adhere to the highestethical standards of their profession, the reports I draw on have rarely been tested byacademic scrutiny. Consciously or unconsciously reporters and their sources mayreport falsely, and my arguments are at the mercy of such biases. Nonetheless, I feelcomfortable continuing because this essay is not an attempt at a definitive statementon the subject of Prabhakaran and the Black Tigers. Rather, it is a letter to the largeracademic community written in hope of beginning a discussion of how Prabhakaranmoulds his elite bombers and how these methods illuminate his leadership of thelarger LTIE.

] For a brief and accessible overview, I recommend John Daly's 2002 work "SuicideBombing: No Warning, and No Total Solution" in Jane's International Security (availableonline); Caleb Carr's scholarly book The Lessons of Terror, Scott Atrans "MishandlingSuicide Terrorism" published in The Washington Quarterly in Summer 2004; and RANDanalyst Bruce Hoffman's June 2003 article for The Atlantic Monthly, "The Logic of SuicideTerrorism".

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Many students of military history argue that the strategic utility of suicidebombers is questionable, but on a tactical level suicide bombing succeeds admirably,at least initially, in terrifying opponents. This unnerving effect extends from avariety of sources, beginning, of course, with the suicide bomber himself or herself.Global humanity has grown familiar now with the broadcast images of suicidebombers filmed before their deaths; these seemingly inhuman but strangely normalyoung people, objects of both fear and wonder. But less mentioned, and perhapsmost fearsome, is the lingering presence behind the bombers of the mentor whodeployed them, a revenant figure of terror who might be dubbed the "bomb master".If the suicide bomber is a bullet, a shell, then someone has pulled the trigger to firethat shell. If suicide bombing campaigns occur, then someone has remained alive toplan and coordinate them. It is important here to note of Arran's observation thatthere is no record of autonomous suicide bombing. The kamikaze pilots of Japanwere recruited and given their mission by their commanders, just as the bomb-makers of Hammas and the al Aqsa Brigades create elaborate training and weaponsfor their assassins. Similarly, the LTIE's Black Tigers report an extensive period ofindoctrination and preparation before their missions. The phenomenon of a lonekiller who picks up a grenade and spontaneously makes a decision to commitmurder-suicide seems nonexistent. A guide, a tactician, and a recruiter mustfacilitate the suicide-bomber's mission. Given this requisite role in the creation ofsuicide bombers, the importance of the bomb master cannot be overstated. Mostobviously, without someone who remains alive, who trains and equips one suicidebomber and then makes preparations for the next, the phenomenon of suicidebombing is unsustainable. But more importantly, there is little evidence that withoutthe bomb master suicide attacks would begin at all.

How does the bomb master recruit and indoctrinate those who actually carryout the attacks? Regardless of the country or context in which the master "makes"his bomb, certain commonalities exist across cultures. First is the commonality ofrecruitment. By preference, a bomb master recruits a young man or occasionally(increasingly) a young woman. Typically, the process is not open to everyone in thecommunity, but only to those who prove their purity in some way. In ImperialJapan, young men wishing to become kamikaze pilots had to demonstrateexceptional dedication to the Emperor, and in Sri Lanka, the LTIE strongly prefersmen and women who are virginal and young. Following this selection, the bombmasters institute a period of indoctrination during which the recruit is isolated fromfamily, friends, and familiar surroundings. In a process confirmed by a variety ofjournalists who have paid brief visits to such trainings, the only people to whom the

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bomb-to-be talks to for months are the bomb master and his assistants, or sometimesother suicide bombers who are also being indoctrinated'.

These journalists also confirm that in the cases they investigated, regardlessof the larger ideology on whose behalf the bomb master worked he or she invariablyused a religious base for the indoctrination. Even the commanders of the AI-AqsaMartyrs Brigade, the suicide-wing of the avowedly secular Fatah movement and theonly Palestinian suicide bombing group that does not call for an Islamic state, useexplicitly Islamic messages in preparing their suicide bombers. Given the nature ofthe sacrifice about to be made, concerns about the afterlife are to be expected andthe bomb masters typically address these concerns with reference to religiousscriptures containing descriptions of paradise. Moreover, during the process ofindoctrination the bomb master will refer to whatever texts or examples the religionhas to offer concerning valour, righteousness and sacrifice for the good of others.The individual's community is described as a bastion of righteous religion that isunder threat and must be defended. Hoffman, Joshi, Pratap, Hasan, and Levy haveall detailed the way in which the individual in question, the bomb underconstruction, is completely inculcated with the certainty of his or her righteousnessand the spiritual reward that is to come:'.

In Sri Lanka, at Prabhakaran's direction, the LITE recruits for its BlackTiger suicide squads those young Tamils who have been particularly traumatized,often through the deaths of their family members, other times after suffering rape orsome other outrage at the hands of Sri Lankan military. In addition, the LITE looksfor "pure" young people, preferably virgins, who practice habits that are consideredreligiously clean. The recruits are isolated somewhere the Wani, where LITEtrainers indoctrinate them in to the cult of the Black Tiger. The exception to thisisolation is the recruits' extraordinary contact with the notably reclusivePrabhakaran. According to reports from Joshi, Pratap, and Levy, Prabhakaran vetsand approves each bomb-to-be himself. In the past, he often gave his Black Tigerrecruits the staggeringly rare honour of a personal meeting on recruitment and ashared meal before deployment, events that posed a great risk for Prabhakaran even

2 In addition to the work of Hoffman and Daly, much of the information drawn upon here istaken from descriptions published by the journalists Bernard-Henri Levy, Charu Lotta Joshi,Anita Pratap, Nasra Hassan, and Erik Schechter. Please see the end of this paper for fullreferences.3 Besides the LTTE and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the other notable secular groupspracticing suicide bombing include the Marxist-Leninist Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, inTurkey and the Syrian Nationalist Party and its offshoots. I have been unable to findconsistent descriptions of the methods used by these groups to recruit and indoctrinate theirsuicide bombers.

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in an era when he moved more freely. Today, restricted and cautious, the leadermaintains his personal relationship with his bombs-in-progress by telephone andother regular personal communication.

During their indoctrination, all recruits are required to undergo various trialsand ascetic practices-fasts, tests of endurance-in order to continue the process.There is a deep emphasis on Tamil history. A strange juxtaposition of messagesexists in the camps. On the one hand, recruits are fiercely dehumanized and forcedto practice demeaning and dangerous activities (according to the extraordinarytestimony of a Black Tiger recruit interviewed by Levy young women who are notvirgins are required to carry a live hand grenade tucked in their genitals for days).On the other hand, they are constantly told how valuable they are, and theimportance of their sacrifice. Importantly, this sacrifice is expressed generally as asuccessful enactment of dharma (in Hinduism, the modes of behaviour appropriateto an individual's caste, position, and circumstances).

This motif of religious practice extends even beyond the moment ofdetonation. As Levy quotes his former Tiger source, dubbed Srilaya, the goal of theBlack Tiger is not just to kill the target but for the suicide bomber's head " ... tobreak clean off, remain intact, and roll to the right place, decided in advance by theleader." In the rare instances of human sacrifice recounted in Hindu texts, it isproper presentation of the severed head which pleases the deity". This parallel ishardly coincidental. .

The arguable result is to make Hindu recruits feel that their destiny, theirroad to moksha, release from suffering and reincarnation, is through suicide. Butthis is paradoxical given the specific and very strong strictures against suicidecontained in mainstream Hinduism. Although much concerned with the abnegationof self, all major strands of Hinduism hold suicide as a fantastically irresponsibleway to end human existence. Only rarely does a being earn the opportunity to beborn as a human. To end that life before it is proper is to both to squander a rareprivilege and to attempt to subvert the ordered consequence on which the universe isbased, and these transgressions will cause serious negative repercussions. Typically,the consequence of suicide is to wander the earth as restless and starving spirit untilthe time allotted to the squandered physical existence is finished. The termgenerally employed in Hinduism to discuss suicide, atmahatya, literally refers to themurder of the self.

Some strands of Hinduism do have room for acceptable forms of suicide.There are some instances of devotees sacrificing themselves directly to their deities,most notably the devotees of Jagannath who throw themselves under the heavywheels of the god's processional. There are also those curious, occasional devotees

4 See Weinberger-Thomas and others.

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who committed auto-decapitation (using ingenious devices with circular collars ofblades). And, of course, there is the much publicized and protested practice of Sati,in which a widow voluntarily throws herself on the funeral pyre of her recentlydeceased husband. Nevertheless, despite the attention rendered it Sati is a rarepractice and one not broadly dispersed among the world's Hindus. The only reallywidespread and generally legitimated form of suicide in Hindu tradition is that ofprayopavesa, in which an ascetic at the end of his or her life renounces food and amedical attention".

None of these forms of suicide can be considered a model for honourabledeath via suicide bombing. Even the more acceptable prayopavesa can only becarried out by a seasoned ascetic come to the end of his or her sustainable physicalhealth. Hinduism has a strong warrior ethic, which encourages those whose dharmais to fight (the Kshatriya) to carry out their duty strive to kill their enemy to the bestof their ability and skill. Killing one self in order to kill the enemy would be aninherently non-skillful and inappropriate means for a Kshatriya. The only form ofsuicide-attack in some way equivalent to the suicide-bombing is the suicide blood-curse of the Charan bards, whose inviolable status was in part preserved by thehorrible fate of attackers touched by Charan blood. There are instances of aggrievedCharans committing suicide singly or en masse to protest against an unjust ruler orattacker. Such suicides were thought to bring down upon the head of the offendingparty a curse so potent that those potentially so afflicted would scramble to makerecompense to the suicide(s)' survivors. However, far more common was for aCharan to sacrifice a family member, often a daughter, and even instances of this arerare. Moreover, there is no evidence that Prabhakaran draws on the stories of the

5 I feel here I must add two caveats. The first is that Hinduism is a vast, complex, and subtlefaith subscribed to by a significant proportion of all humans ever to have walked the earth.There may be many cases of religiously-sanctioned Hindu suicide of which I am ignorant.

The second is that in writing about subjects such as Sati or human sacrifice I amuncomfortably aware of the fascination these topics have held for generations of Orientalistsand travel writers. The sensationalism surrounding these topics has led to an embarrassingoveremphasis which continues to distort Western understandings of Hindu cultures.Nonetheless, in considering suicide bombing, a subject I consider of real importance today, Ifind useful points of reference in these topics. I implore readers, especially Hindus, to trustthat my attention stems not from an interest in exoticism but in a sincere desire to understanda difficult issue. Sati and human sacrifice occurred just as suicide bombing occurs now. Ifexamining one can illuminate the other, then the discussion should begin. Should the readerremain interested in these topics, I recommend Catherine Weinberger-Thomas' Ashes ofImmortality: Widow Burning in India for her discussion of both Sati and the Charan suicidecurse.

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Charans, which in any case would have little meaning for Tamil Black Tigerrecruits.

A similar lack of local relevance leads me to reject an interpretation ofsuicide bombing as some sort of aggressive Sati. On the surface, the idea holdssome merit-Sati is traditionally explained as the highest manifestation of awoman's dharma, an event through which the universal Shakti principal manifeststo the glory of the woman and the benefit of her community. Clearly, theexplanatory power of such an ideal in justifying suicide bombing would beenormous. However, although a source of considerable Western and Indian outrageover the last two hundred years, the practice of Sati (both in its voluntarily and lessthan voluntary forms) is actually isolated in relatively few Hindu communities (mostof them in Northern Rajasthan and Bengal). Sati is largely unknown in other partsof India and entirely unknown among the Tamils of Sri Lanka. Additionally,although female Black Tigers have commanded media attention (in part because of ageneral fascination with women warriors, in larger part because of theirextraordinary successes), fully two thirds of LTIE suicide bombings have beencarried out by males for whom the "Homicidal Sati" model would be a difficult fit.

How then has Prabhakaran been successful in recruiting and fielding suicidebombers? As described above, the creation of suicide bombers requires tapping intoroots of religious tradition, and Hindu tradition specifically forbids suicide. Thecontradiction seems almost irreconcilable. Of course, almost' all major religionspreach against suicide and this has not prevented suicide bombers being recruited inthe name of traditions other than Hinduism. How these other bomb mastersreconcile the paradox inherent in asking their bombers to kill themselves in thename of a religion that forbids suicide lies beyond the scope of this paper. But inthe case of Sri Lanka and the Black Tiger suicide squad, the answer can be found ifwe return again to the question: "How has Prabhakaran been successful inrecruiting and fielding suicide bombers?"

As described above, one of the best known aspects of the Black Tigers isthat Prabhakaran himself vets and approves every applicant to join its ranks. Hetakes a personal interest in the function of the Black Tiger training, and at everystage of the process the recruits are reminded that their mandate comes from theleader himself. To some extent this is only expected, given the incredible cult ofpersonality that Prabhakaran has instituted through out the LTIE. But in the case ofthe Black Tigers the connection between recruit and Prabhakaran goes further.Anita Pratap, one of the few journalists to interview Black Tigers after theirindoctrination but before their deployment (and with, necessarily, the permission ofPrabhakaran for the interviews), quotes a Black Tiger named Sunil as saying "Forus, he is mother, father, and God all rolled into one."

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Prabhakaran has tapped into one of the strongest Hindu traditions, that ofthe guru, literally "the dispeller of darkness," the figure responsible for leading hisfollowers into enlightenment. These ascetic teachers have the mandate to instructother human beings in the ways of religious mysteries, guiding their disciplesthrough correct action to fulfill their dharma and thus achieve better rebirth or evenrelease from suffering. Moreover, the instructions of the guru come first andforemost in the religious progression of the student. It is said that should a studentcome before his or her guru and God, the student should first pay homage to theguru since the guru is responsible for leading him or her to God. Observing theelaborate rituals and indoctrination, as well as the personalized care thatPrabhakaran directs towards his bombers reveals that Prabhakaran has establishedhimself as a teacher responsible for instructing his students in how to live by thecorrect dharmas so that they may transcend this life. Moreover, although the wayPrabhakaran has publicized his early asceticism to build a mythology legitimisinghis military leadership has been amply analysed by Swamy and others, few writershave considered the religious overtones of these stories of sacrifices. Prabhakaran issimple in practice, abstemious, possessed of higher dedication, understanding, andpowers. Prabhakaran the bomb master is Prabhakaran the self-created guru, whoavoids Hinduism's traditional condemnation of suicide by establishing himself asthe only proper authority on matters of religious importance.

This conclusion leads to an interesting illumination of Prabhakaran's use ofHindu tradition in his leadership of the LITE as a whole. Not only has Prabhakaranadapted the tradition of the guru, the guider in dharma, as a means of indoctrinatinghis suicide bombers, but he has extended this metaphor to the rest of the LTIE aswell. Prabhakaran has made himself more than a beloved leader in war and politics.He has also become the guru who issues the commands and guidance that improvethe dharma of his LTIE followers, the leader and teacher who alone can instruct hisstudents in how to live righteously and in how to leave this life in the appropriatemanner. This relationship is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the almost yogicasceticism Prabhakaran prescribes for the Tigers-abstention from sex, from certainfoods. It can also be seen in other rituals that Prabhakaran prescribes, such ascarrying the gold plated cyanide capsule, which are not classically Hindu but thattap into critical conceptions of death and duty. This understanding of Prabhakaran'srelationship to Hinduism further explains why he advocates Hindu practice withinthe ranks of the LTIE. Not only is such practice a critical cultural tradition for theTamils, but it reinforces the manner in which Prabhakaran exercises control over hislegions.

This is not to say that Prabhakaran is a Hindu fanatic disguised as a lapsedMethodist Christian, nor to argue the nonsensical idea that the LTIE is a religiousgroup masquerading as a secular liberation movement. Religious feeling may

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include belief, even fanatical belief, but belief is not the totality of religiousexperience. A religion's symbols, stories, and ideas also describe useful metaphorsby which humans map the relationships between their lives and the progress ofhistory. Just as absurd as arguing that the LTIE is in fact a fundamentalist Hinduinsurgency is the argument that in placing their faith in a secular organizationTamils lose all sympathy for religious appeal. Prabhakaran understands both thenecessity to his cause of secularism and the importance to his people of Hindutradition; he therefore casts himself not as an explicit Hindu leader but as an implicitHindu guru to consolidate his command.

What are the implications of this? While any consideration of Prabhakaranand the LTIE should take a multi-faceted approach, considerations of religion haveremained strangely absent. This is particularly odd, given the LTIE's notablyvicious attacks against the shrines and reliquaries of other religions", It is odder stillgiven the research published by Tambiah, Bartholomeusz, and others that considersBuddhism's influence on the decisions of Sinhalese political leaders. Just asBuddhism can influence the love and loyalty to Sri Lanka of even secular Sinhalese,Hinduism is a strong influence on the ideology of the LTIE, an influence thatPrabhakaran understands and exploits. Admittedly, Prabhakaran has subvertedmany strongly held Hindu traditions, including prohibition on suicide, but also asregards traditional notions of caste. But Prabhakaran subverts them by remainingwithin a Hindu framework, not by rejecting that framework. Any attempt tounderstand or negotiate with Prabhakaran should keep this strange, subverted Hinduframework strongly in the foreground.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Atran, Scott. "Mishandling Suicide Terrorism." Washington Quarterly Summer2004.

Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. In Defense of Dharma: Just-war Ideology in Buddhist SriLanka. (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.)

Carr, Caleb. The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians.(New York: Random House, 2003).

Daly, John. "Suicide Bombing: No Warning and No Total Solution." Jane'sInternational Security, 2002, 24, no. 2. www.janes.comlsecurity/

international_security/news/jtsmljtsmO 10917 _I_n.shtml

6 For descriptions, refer to Professor Kingsley de Silva's excellent article in his Conflict andViolence in South Asia.

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De Silva, Kingsley M. "Separatism and Political Violence in Sri Lanka." In Conflictand Violence in South Asia, Edited by Kingsley M. de Silva. (Kandy:International Centre for Ethnic Studies, 2000.)

Hassan, Nasra. "An Arsenal of Believers: Talking to the 'Human Bombs'." TheNew Yorker, November 11,2001.

Hellman-Rajanayagam, Dagmar. The Tamil Tigers: Armed Struggle for Identity.(Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1994.)

Hoffman, Bruce. "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism." The Atlantic Monthly, June2003,291, no. 5.

Hudson, Rex A. The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes aTerrorist and Why? (Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division,Library of Congress, 1999.)

Joshi, Charu Lotta. "Ultimate Sacrifice." The Economist, 1 June 2000.Levy, Bernard-Henri. War, Evil, and the End of History. (New York: Melville

House Publishing, 2004.)Mani, Lata. Contentious Traditions: The debate on Sati in Colonial India.

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.)Pratap, Anita. Island of Blood: Frontline Reportsfrom Sri Lanka, Afghanistan,

and Other South Asian Flashpoints. (New York: Penguin Books, 2003.)Schechter, Erik. "Where Have All the Bombers Gone?" Jerusalem Post, 6 August

2004.Swamy Naryan, M.R. Inside and Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran: The First Profile of

the World's Most Ruthless Guerilla Leader. (Delhi: Konark,2003.)Tambiah, Stanley. Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri

Lanka. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.)Weinberger-Thomas, Catherine. Ashes of Immortality: Widow Burning in India.

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.)Various Authors, Various Articles. The South Asia Terrorism Portal (Available at:

http://www.satp.org/.)J.R.RODD